NASA discovers third radiation belt around Earth

9 March FOX News

A ring of radiation previously unknown to science fleetingly
surrounded Earth last year before being virtually annihilated by a
powerful interplanetary shock wave, scientists say.NASA's twin Van Allen
space probes, which are studying the Earth's radiation belts, made the
cosmic find. The surprising discovery a new, albeit temporary, radiation
belt around Earth reveals how much remains unknown about outer space,
even those regions closest to the planet, researchers added.

After humanity began exploring space, the first major find made there
were the Van Allen radiation belts, zones of magnetically trapped,
highly energetic charged particles first discovered in 1958."They were
something we thought we mostly understood by now, the first discovery of
the Space Age," said lead study author Daniel Baker, a space scientist
at the University of Colorado.

These belts were believed to consist of two rings: an inner zone made
up of both high-energy electrons and very energetic positive ions that
remains stable in intensity over the course of years to decades; and an
outer zone comprised mostly of high-energy electrons whose intensity
swings over the course of hours to days depending primarily on the
influence from the solar wind, the flood of radiation streaming from the
sun.